(Clearwisdom.net) In years of cultivating during the Fa rectification period, many practitioners have been persecuted and some have been persecuted many times. Many practitioners walked out of labour camps, detention centers and prisons with Teacher's care, their own righteous thoughts and fellow practitioners' help. After a practitioner walks out an evil den, usually a small experience sharing conference will be held for the practitioner to share how he or she had faith in Teacher and the Fa and faced the persecution with righteous thoughts. For practitioners who could not step out because of fear, these kinds of sharing helped them a lot, and also frightened the evil. But recently, when attending one such experience sharing conference, I suddenly realized a problem: practitioners always talk about how they walked out of evil dens, and how they faced the evil, but seldom talk about why they were persecuted. Most of the time, practitioners treat this issue on a surface level and say something like they were persecuted because they "didn't study the Fa well," "didn't do much truth clarification," or "were not in a good cultivation state." Practitioners seldom spent time searching inside themselves for the true reason they were persecuted.
Why were these practitioners persecuted?
Teacher says,
"There are two circumstances in which they can't touch a Dafa disciple. One is that he is rock-solid. They don't dare touch him, because they know at that time that if this disciple has taken a righteous path and conducted himself well and someone still dares to persecute him, it doesn't matter that they're the old forces or what the old principles are--I absolutely won't spare them. There are countless righteous Gods by my side, too! And I also have countless Law Bodies who do Fa-rectification. My only concern is that Dafa disciples themselves won't be firm inside; when there's some kind of attachment, some kind of fear, or what not, then the old forces see it and take advantage of the omissions and persecute them. And if a person's righteous thoughts aren't sufficient while he's being persecuted, he will be persecuted even worse. This is always the case. " ("Touring North America to Teach the Fa")
My understanding is: Since Teacher has already pointed out the reasons why some practitioners are persecuted, practitioners should really look inside and search for the reasons they were persecuted.
After being arrested, some practitioners could maintain an unshakable calm as the Fa requires. And because of that, those practitioners could walk out of those evil places in a dignified manner. Then why have some practitioners been persecuted repeatedly?
Although those practitioners could calmly face the evil and walked out of those evil dens, they didn't truly improve in the areas where they need to improve. Thus, whenever a chance comes up, the old forces will exploit their gaps again to persecute them. That is the reason why some practitioners were persecuted repeatedly.
We have also realized there is an issue practitioners need to improve on together, which is idolizing those practitioners who walked out of the evil dens. Many practitioners, especially those with a lot of fear, have a tendency to idolize these practitioners. Some even think only those practitioners who have been in jails are extraordinary, which only gives the old forces in other dimensions another excuse to persecute practitioners. Actually I think we should look at those practitioners who walked out of prisons from two perspectives. First, these practitioners have fallen short of the standard in some areas, which is the reason that the evil uses to persecute them. They need to focus on improving in those areas, and fellow practitioners should help them too. Second, the fact that these practitioners resisted the evil persecution in a dignified manner is extraordinary, but it is the mighty virtue of Teacher and Dafa that is extraordinary. It should not become a practitioner's way to show off.
Such practitioners and practitioners around them should clearly realize the first priority is to find out where they fall short, and then share those lessons and experiences. It shouldn't be like what most of us do today - practitioners from other areas invite this practitioner to go to talk about how he or she nobly left the prison and many people praise the practitioner. The problem is that they turn an experience sharing into one person's presentation, which doesn't accord with Teacher's requirements. On the other hand, it may increase the practitioner's attachments of showing off and zealotry. With new attachments added and old attachments remaining intact, the practitioner will likely be persecuted again soon. If practitioners in mainland China look back at the last several years, they will find it is a common phenomenon. Furthermore, as these practitioners were persecuted repeatedly, some practitioners began to ask, "If he cultivates so well, then why was he persecuted again and again? Didn't Teacher say that those who cultivate well won't get persecuted?" The practitioners who had these doubts didn't understand Teacher's Fa well in the first place. When their faith in the Fa started to waver, the situation only got more complex.
Usually practitioners could sense a problem in their cultivation before being arrested, such as not being able to absorb the Fa during Fa study, not being willing to clarify the truth, unsatisfactory truth clarification results, not being able to maintain a high xinxing level, having troubles in whatever they do, etc. These are also the problems those practitioners discovered in themselves after they were persecuted. I don't think these are the true reasons. Why didn't practitioners examine themselves according to Teacher's Fa? Why couldn't they absorb the Fa during Fa study? Why couldn't they maintain a high xinxing level? Why weren't they able to clarify the truth? We should look past the surface and search for the true reasons that cause us to not be diligent in cultivation. If we can find and get rid of them, then the evil won't have any chance to persecute us. But usually those bad attachments are exactly what we don't want to face and will try any excuse to avoid, thus we again and again lose the opportunity to improve. Eventually the evil forces exploit the gaps and use our attachments to persecute us.
For example, a contact person in a northeastern area who had always been cultivating well, had an affair. His cultivation state became worse and worse, and eventually he was arrested. The local truth clarification was also affected to some degree. These kinds of things are very sad. The persecuted practitioners are responsible, while the practitioners around them also have some responsibilities. During the Fa rectification period, pointing out a fellow practitioners' shortcoming with kindness and helping them to improve in the Fa is truly being kind to them. Those practitioners who just praise others and admire others are actually pulling them down.
Dafa is serious, and cultivation is serious. We can't hide forever from our attachments. The evil uses excuses to persecute practitioners. It is no use if we talk about denying the old forces while holding tight to our attachments. We deny the old forces themselves, so avoiding persecution is not the purpose of eliminating attachments. We need to get rid of attachments because it is requirement of Teacher and the new universe. Practitioners who were persecuted, especially those who are persecuted repeatedly, should really calm down, study the Fa more, search for the reasons, get rid of attachments and improve. Don't be afraid to face problems or acknowledge them. Attachments are matter existing in another dimension, which you cannot hide or cover up. Practitioners around them should take good care of them rationally by helping them eliminate attachments instead of strengthening their attachments. Let us walk the Fa rectification path well.
